Porsche Tops JD Power's List Of Most Reliable New Cars

Buyers of Porsches are least likely to have problems with their new vehicles, according to the latest Initial Quality Study from market research agency J.D. Power. The study, which is widely used by new car shoppers, measures the number of problems experienced by new cars during the first 90 days of ownership.

Porsche once again topped the list, registering only 74 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). Jaguar jumped seven spots to take second place with 87 PP100. More surprising was the dramatic downward slide of Acura and Infiniti, two high-reliability stalwarts that both dropped 18 spots respectively.

In fact, reliability was down across the board. J.D. Power attributes this increase to teething troubles experienced by more technologically advanced new vehicles. As a whole, newly launched models experienced 128 PP 100 compared with 113 PP100 for existing models.

“Automakers are trying to give consumers the new features and technology they want without introducing additional quality problems in their vehicles,” said David Sargent, J.D Power’s vice president of global automotive. “However, almost all automakers are struggling to do this flawlessly with some consumers indicating that the technology is hard to understand, difficult to use, or simply does not always work as designed.”

Some of the increase in problems experienced can also be attributed to last year’s extraordinarily brutal winter with cars in regions hit hardest by the weather exhibiting greater numbers of problems.

Here is how J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Initial Quality Study ranks the major brands in terms of problems per 100 vehicles: